Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford outlined the importance of the Manchester United academy in a presentation to staff this week.
Ratcliffe and Brailsford visited United’s Carrington training complex on Monday as they continue their audit ahead of the Premier League approving the Ineos Group’s 25% stakeholding in the club.
United academy head Nick Cox is effusive about Ineos’s plans and believes there are “exciting times ahead” for the academy.
When asked if Ratcliffe and Brailsford had acknowledged the academy underpins the first team, Cox told the Manchester Evening News: “Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they were very clear. We have spent time with Dave and Jim. They both presented to the academy staff this week and we have had a lot of informal conversations as well.
“It is very early days, they are still learning about the club, albeit Jim is a huge supporter. Jim is very familiar with the club, being a lifelong fan. But you don’t have to spend long here to realise that.
“But they are building relationships, trying to understand where the help and support might be needed to help us to get better.
“Naturally, they have a really good understanding of the history of youth development here and the role it has played in our history and the role it is playing today in terms of helping our team perform. So from our perception, from the academy staff’s perception, exciting times ahead.
“I think the staff were incredibly enthused and appreciated the fact that they dedicated some time which is a really busy time for them because there are a lot of new people to meet and new information for them but they came and spent considerable time with every person in the room.
“And that same approach has been taken across different functions in the club and will do I imagine in the coming weeks.”
A United academy graduate has been selected in more than 4,000 successive matches dating back to October 1937. Five academy players started in United’s 2-0 defeat at West Ham in December and the first team ended their FA Cup third-round defeat of Wigan with six United-bred players on the pitch.
Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have cemented their places in the first team, having contributed to the club’s first FA Youth Cup victory in 11 years in 2022, and the Under-18s have won all 14 of their league games. Cox is conscious of complacency, though.
“We have always been a club of innovation, that is looking to improve,” he added. “I think we are really good. Our programme is really good. But sport is fast-moving and if you sit down and say we are really good you suddenly find you are not so good, because you see everyone go past you.
“We have to be thinking of how we improve and through the expertise they bring and the network that they have, there are going to be some wonderful opportunities for us to improve the programme we currently deliver – which I believe is in a good place. But we always strive to be the best. That’s Man United, right?”